History of the Christmas Cracker In 1847, almost by accident, Tom Smith invented the cracker. It was a simple idea which became an integral part of British celebration and tradition which still continues today, 150 years on. In it's simple form a cracker is a small cardboard tube covered in a brightly coloured twist of paper. When the cracker is 'pulled' by two people, each holding one end of the twisted paper, the friction creates a small explosive 'pop' produced by a narrow strip of chemically impregnated paper. The cardboard tube tumbles a bright paper hat, a small gift, a balloon and a motto or joke. At the turn of the century, Tom Smith produced crackers not only for the Christmas season but also to celebrate every major occasion from The Paris Exhibition in 1900 to War Heroes in 1918 and The World Tour in 1926 of Prince Edward, The Prince of Wales.

Contents were tailored to each box; grotesque or artistic masks, puzzles, conundrums, tiny treasures, jewels, games and mottoes, and most of the beautifully illustrated boxes, crackers and hats, from fezzes to sheiks'' head dresses, were made by hand. The fully illustrated catalogues which date back to 1877 provide an exceptional visual history of British social and political evolvement over an entire century. In early 1830, Tom Smith started work as a small boy in a bakers and ornamental confectioners shop in London, selling sweets such as fondants, pralines and gum pastilles. He worked hard and took particular interest in the wedding cake ornaments and decorations, experimenting and creating new, more exciting and less crude designs in his spare time. Before long he was successful enough to leave and start up his own business in Goswell Road, Clerkenwell, East London. He was adventurous and forward thinking, often travelling abroad to search for new ideas, it was on a trip to Paris in 1840 that he first discovered the 'bon bon', a sugared almond wrapped in a twist of tissue paper.

It was a simple idea which, over the next 7 years, would eventually evolved into the Cracker. He decided to bring the 'bon bon' to London and during Christmas that year they sold extremely well, but in January demand virtually ceased and once again he was reliant on sales of cake and table decorations and ornaments. Anxious to develop the 'bon bon' idea further and stimulate sales, Tom decided to place a small love motto in the tissue paper and he encouraged his regular customers to takes supplies, many did, and within a short while, orders were sufficiently high and sales profitable enough for him to increase his staff. By now, Tom knew that he had an unique and potentially very commercial idea. He decided to take a risk and concentrate on developing it further, while still running the wedding cake ornament and confectionery business which was by now very well established. At this time, the majority of 'bon bons' were still sold at Christmas and he began to think up ways to capitalise on this short but very profitable season and make his 'bon bons' even more appealing. It was the crackle of a log as he threw it on his fire that gave him the flash of inspiration which eventually led to the crackers we know today.

A ' crackle' would add the necessary excitement and spark to his novelty 'bon bon' and it was now simply a matter of experimentation to find a compound which gave a satisfactory bang without going to far. The size of the 'bon bon' would also need to increase significally to accommodate the 'cracking mechanism' but the shape remained the same and the motto was still included. Eventually Tom perfected his chemical explosion to create a 'pop' caused by friction when the wrapping was broken This eventually became the snap and the cracker was born. The trade jumped at Tom Smith's latest novelty, and he was snowed under with orders. Very quickly he began to refine his product - he dropped the sweet and the 'bon bon' name, calling his new crackers Cosaques, but he kept the motto and added a surprise gift. Delighted at his overnight success Tom decided to explore the export market and took his cracker abroad. At this time, only one design of cracker was being made and to his horror, an Eastern manufacturer seized his idea, copied it and delivered a consignment of crackers to Britain just before Christmas.

Not surprisingly, in true fashion, Tom immediately rose to the challenge; he designed 8 different kinds of cracker, worked his staff day and night and distributed stocks throughout the country also in time for Christmas. After this he never looked back. Tom Smith lived to see the new branch of his firm grow to swamp the original premises in Goswell Road. The company moved to Finsbury Square in the City of London where it remained until 1953. When he died he left the business to his three sons, Tom Henry and Walter. A few years later, a drinking fountain was erected in Finsbury Square by Walter Smith in memory of his mother, Mary, and to commemorate the life of the man who invented the great British Cracker. At the turn of the Century the demand for crackers, and especially those which celebrated current trends and events, was high. After Tom Smith's death, his three sons set about developing the cracker designs, contents and mottoes. Walter Smith, the youngest son, introduced a topical note to the mottoes which had previously been love verses.

Special writers were commissioned to compose snappy and relevant maxims with references to every important event or craze at the time from greyhounds to Jazz, Frothblowers to Tutankhamen, Persian Art to The Riviera. The original early Victorian mottoes were mainly love verses...Eventually these were replaced by more complicated puzzles and cartoons, and finally by the corny jokes and riddles which characterise our crackers today. Walter also introduced the paper hats, many of which were elaborate and made of best tissue and decorative paper on proper hatmakers stands. He also toured the world to find new, relevant and unusual ideas for the surprise gifts such as bracelets from Bohemia, tiny wooden barrels from America and scarf pins from Saxony. Some contents were also assembled in the factory like the thousands of tiny pill boxes filled with rouge complete with powder puff. Tom Smith were now able to fulfil special orders for both companies and individuals. Records show an order for a six foot cracker to decorate Euston Station in London, and in 1927 a gentleman wrote to the Company enclosing a diamond engagement ring and 10 shilling note as payment for the ring to be put in a special cracker for his fiancee.

Unfortunately he did not enclose an address and never contacted the Company again; the ring, letter and 10 shilling note are still in the safe today. Tom Smith made wonderful crackers. In the early days there was an extremely large variety of specialist boxes including Wedgwood Art Crackers from original designs by permission of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, and designs such as Japanese Menagerie crackers containing the latest novelties from Japan specially manufactured and imported. These include animals, birds and and reptiles and even mottoes in Japanese. The company was, importantly, very aware of current affairs and the political and leisure activities of each period. Crackers were created for the War Heroes, Charlie Chaplin, The Wireless, Motoring, The Coronation and even the Channel Tunnel in 1914. Exclusive crackers were also made for members of the Royal Family and still are to this day. During the Second World War restrictions were placed on the production of cracker snaps. The Ministry of Defence commissioned Tom Smith to fold and tie bundles of three to six snaps together with special string and regulation knots. These bundles were then used by soldiers in training as, when the string was pulled, they mimicked the noise of machine gun fire.

After the war, vast quantities of these surplus cracker snaps were released back into the cracker trade. As the demand for crackers increased, Tom Smith merged with Caley Crackers in 1953 taking over their headquarters and factory in Norwich, East Anglia. Further merges took place over the following years with Mead and Field, Neilson Festive Crackers and Manson and Church, each specialists in their own particular field. Today Tom Smith Group is a subsidiary of Napier Industries, the largest manufacturer of crackers in the world. Tom Smith Group Limited currently hold a royal warrant from: HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II ï¿½ 1906: Tom Smith were granted their first Royal Warrant by the then Prince of Wales which entitled them in 1909 to become members of the Royal Warrant Holders Association. 1910: In December, the reigning monarch, King George V granted Tom Smith his warrant as suppliers of Christmas Crackers. 1911: On March 23rd, Tom Smith was granted Queen Mary's Royal Warrant as manufacturers of Christmas Crackers. This warrant was renewed in 1938 and held by Tom Smith until her death in 1953.

1964: On January 1st, the Queen Elizabeth II was granted and this is still held today. 1975: On March 10th, the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother warrant was granted and was held until the Queen Mother passed away in 2002. 1987: On January 1st . The Prince of Wales Warrant was granted. ï¿½ Tom Smith still proudly hold the honour of producing special crackers each year for the Royal Household although designs and contents are a closely guarded secret. Christmas Crackers - Tom Smith and the History of the Christmas Cracker Christmas Crackers - Tom Smith and the History of the Christmas Cracker Tom Smiths Catalog Cover, 1930/1931. (c)Peter Kimpton Updated October 19, 2015. What if the Christmas Cracker hadn't been invented when it was? No, this is not the opening line of one of those corny Cracker jokes but a serious question. What if, here in 2007, you were a businessman and some young fellow offered you this quite flimsy decorative paper object as a new money making concept? You would probably smile politely and show him the door.

But what if he told you that his invention would still be going strong 150 years later? Almost certainly you wouldn't believe him – after all, how many products survive for that length of time virtually unchanged? But in actual fact, the Christmas Cracker is a pretty good business proposition. Bright, colourful, appealing to the eye, cheap to make, harmless, something which creates fun for all ages, almost guaranteed sales at the Christmas period, a good mark up on whatever content you put inside it and total acceptance as part of the nation's Christmas tradition in a relatively short space of time following its invention. continue reading below our video How to Turn Your Hobby into a Small Business But hang on a minute! Isn't this the sort of product that every captain of industry and entrepreneur dreams about? Seems too good to be true but would you, as a hard headed businessman take it on? Obviously the young Tom Smith – the Cracker's accepted inventor thought it had potential way back in the 1840's/1850's and time as they say has only proved him right!

In a light hearted moment one can imagine Tom going down to his local pub and his friends saying "Hello Tom, still messing about with those silly paper things? They'll never come to anything you know, you're wasting your time!" Well, any detractors were wrong and over a century and a half later, Tom Smith's and its competitors (and there have been quite a few) must have produced billions and billions of these fragile paper items, created to give fun but born to be destroyed and possibly deserving of the title of the ultimate throw away product! From a social point a view, how much money must crackers have generated within the economy over the years and how many families have depended upon this humble little product for their livelihoods? Crackers it seems certainly have not let the side down and it is sad in a way that Tom Smith himself died in his late 40's and never lived to see the great blossoming of his product to its heyday in the first 20 years of the last century. However, it is the very fragility and throw away nature of the product that causes difficulty when it comes to research as I have found to my cost over many years.

How often do avid ephemera and packaging seekers turn up complete and in tact boxes of Crackers over 100 years old? You can guess that the answer to that one is – virtually never. Hard facts and physical examples are difficult to unearth and from my own point a view, even though in 1989, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the only known photograph of our hero, I have found Tom Smith something of a mystery man. Take into account various fires and all the destruction of the Second World War when much wonderful archive material met its end in war torn London, then the difficulties of putting together a really accurate history of the man and his product becomes apparent. It's also not a situation that keeps students and collectors of ephemera today altogether happy. Notwithstanding, there is some material around and even if it is in relatively short supply, there is enough to enable one to put together at least a broad brush history and, coupled with a bit of educated but I hope not overly speculative detective work, two and two sometimes do actually make four! But what of the man himself?

Information is pretty scarce but copious trawling through various censuses have yielded the fact that Tom Smith, the son of Thomas (a grocer) and Pricilla was born on October 18th 1823 but had sadly departed for the big Cracker factory in the sky on March 13th 1869 probably from stomach cancer at the unfairly young age of 46. For those who might like to try to dig a little deeper in this area, be prepared to encounter the Victorians' love for the names Thomas and Martha (Tom's wife) and the frightening number of people with the surname Smith, at which point the reality of the search for information hits home in a big way! We do know for sure however that Tom Smith was a Londoner, that he started in business on his own in the mid 1840's and we do know the locations in East London from where his business operated. Further, his origins in the confectionery business are reasonably easy to confirm but there are quite a few periods especially in the early years where there are gaps.

The earliest Tom Smith archive material in the Victoria & Albert museum in London offers his catalogues covering confectionery, superb cake decorations and fancy goods from the 1870's in which Crackers or "Cosaques" as they were known in their infancy are also listed. Further examples from the late 1870's and 1880's at the English National Archive at Kew and some of my own archive material from the 1890's show significant growth on the Cracker side of things. Trained originally as a graphic designer, my own greatest enthusiasm from amongst surviving Tom Smith material and that of other cracker companies has to be for the sheer quality and inventiveness of the graphics used on the box labels which, at their best are superb. The range over the years was enormous and firstly Tom and subsequently his children (he had six!) after he died, were forward thinking and enthusiastic in embracing the use of publicity and advertising together with the presentation of their beautiful Crackers, wonderful scraps and amazing box imagery.

Also see: BBC - History - British History in depth: Ten Ages of Christmas Mid Victorian Christmas cards and crackers 'If there is one thing inseparable from Christmas in general and the little ones' seasonable gatherings in particular, it is - a cracker. With what a delightful look of expectation they have waited for it to go "bang", and how they have screamed as they scrambled after the surprise which came in response to the explosion ...'. So observed a Victorian writer about one of the two real Christmas innovations of the period: the Christmas cracker. The story of the Christmas cracker is really a testament to one man's ingenuity and determination. Tom Smith was a confectioner's apprentice in London in the early 19th century. On a trip to Paris in 1840, he admired the French sugared almond bon-bons, wrapped in coloured tissue paper, and decided to introduce them in London. These bon-bons were popular, but not quite as Smith had hoped. For seven years he worked to develop the bon-bon into something more exciting, but it was not until he sat one evening in front of his fireplace that his great idea came to him.

Watching the logs crackle, he imagined a bon-bon with a pop. He made a coloured paper wrapper and put in it another strip of paper impregnated with chemicals which, when rubbed, created enough friction to produce a noise. He knew that bangs excited children (and were said to frighten evil spirits) - and the mottoes and poems he inserted inside the crackers amused adults. The combination of innovation and tradition which is a hallmark of the Victorian period also marked another creation of the 1840s - the Christmas card, an altogether more pragmatic 'invention' than the cracker. Sir Henry Cole, burdened by the amount of seasonal correspondence he felt obliged to write, first conceived of a dedicated Christmas card in 1843. His idea was to print a seasonal greeting card which would save hours of handwriting, and he engaged his friend, the artist John Horsley, to design nearly 1000 hand-coloured lithographs. The standardisation and lowering of postage rates in 1840, which made letters easier and cheaper to send, contributed to the rapid spread of this new custom.

Designs featured Christmas scenes, including Father Christmas, robins, evergreens and snow scenes but also a range of non-Christmas designs, much like Valentine cards. The man who made Christmas go with a bang: Beautiful boxes chart the history of the great British Christmas cracker | Daily Mail Online Next The man who made Christmas go with a bang: Beautiful boxes chart the history of the great British Christmas cracker Tom Smith invented the cracker in the 1840s after he being inspired by Parisian bon bons wrapped in paper His colourful boxes show the humble Christmas cracker has always been an important part of the festive season Many document iconic moments and eras in history such as the Russo-Japanese War crackers printed in 1907 They also feature the Telephone crackers in 1878 - two years Alexander Bell's patent was granted for the phone Christmas Crackers | Heather's Monthly Articles | MPT Afternoon Tea Heather's Monthly Articles January 2015 A Christmas Cracker. Crackers. According to my trusty on-line thesaurus there are over 20 definitions of the word; mostly having to do with biscuits or being off your rocker.

The latter mind you is probably what comes to mind by those attending their first traditional English Christmas Dinner. For there we all sit around the festive table, with its best china and silverware, decked out in our holiday finery, while sporting a-top our heads colored tissue paper crowns. The crowns are said by some to symbolize those worn by the Wise Men, but that tribute to the real meaning of Christmas is generally overlooked amidst the crown's accompanying items. Namely, a small toy or novelty and a strip of paper on which is printed a joke, riddle or motto. All three are contained in a small cardboard tube wrapped in a twist of colorful paper. Threaded through the tube are two narrow pieces of thin cardboard, the ends of which are treated with a chemical similar to that used in a cap gun. The strips are joined together with the treated areas overlapping. This then is what constitutes a Christmas Cracker. The crackers are placed at each place setting and dinner cannot commence until the diners have chosen a partner with whom to pull their crackers. Or the diners cross their arms and holding their cracker in their right hand pulls their neighbor's cracker with their free left hand.

As the cracker is pulled apart, the cap gun substance produces a "snapping" or "popping" sound and the person with the largest half of the cracker gets to claim the contents, which have usually spilled out onto the table top. There's nothing more fun than digging a cheap piece of plastic out of a gravy boat. The festive atmosphere is made all the more merry as people take turns to read aloud their corny jokes and play with their novelty items. Christmas Crackers came to being in the 1840s, when a London sweet seller, Tom Smith, was looking to invigorate his sales. He'd already had success with an idea he'd pinched from the French during a visit to Paris; bon-bons wrapped in a twist of tissue paper. But sales were slumping. They picked up after he began to insert love notes into the sweet wrappers. It was a seasonal surge though with most of the bon-bons being sold at Christmas. Tom pondered how he might capitalize on the short but highly profitable season. Tom Smith, the inventor of the Christmas Cracker. Inspiration came to Tom in a flash, as he sat in front of his wood burning fire.

So mesmerized was he by the crackle of the logs, that he wanted to wrap up the sound they made and share it with his customers. He went about increasing the size of the sweet wrapper so he could include a mechanism that made a popping sound. He then replaced the candy inside with a trinket. Tom's product was initially named a Cosaque, but people began calling it a cracker after the sound it made. Tom Smith's Christmas Crackers took off with a bang so to speak and were soon being replicated by copy-cat manufacturers wanting to cash in on his idea. To compete with the abundance of rival cracker makers, Smith's son Walter differentiated the Smith cracker with the inclusion of a paper hat. Tom Smith crackers are still available today and hold the distinction of holding a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. So what's a cracker cost? It all depends on the size, the type of paper and the quality of the novelty item. Bumper packs that are available in your everyday supermarket or pound (dollar) store, cost anywhere from one to five pounds ($1.50-$7.50) for a box of eight.

Whereas a box of six vintage-design luxury crackers purchased at Harrods sell for the equivalent of $900. The "novelty" found inside include such items as a silk handkerchief and cufflinks, silk scarf and scarf pin, leather passport holder and mobile phone case and crystal drop earrings and bracelet. The perfect cracker for the overseas guest whose luggage has been mislaid at Heathrow. A Romanov Cracker from Harrods-priced at $952. Fortnum and Masons high-end crackers come slightly cheaper: a mere bargain at five hundred pounds (about $750) for a box of six. For that price I'd expect a genie to pop out who could magic away the dirty dishes. Instead, the velvet-trimmed crackers contain silver plated items such as a jam spoon and butter knife, a corkscrew and champagne stopper, and a tea-infuser. When pulled, they also play a jolly carol. For the more down-to-earth Fortnum and Mason customer (if there is such a thing) there's the less opulent cracker option, costing a little under $100 for a box of six.

Figuring that the people who buy those must be the type that enjoy a good old "knees-up", Fortnum's have thoughtfully included items such as a xylophone block and baton, or whistles that play different tones. My own personal preference in Christmas Crackers are those of the cheap 'n cheerful variety. Their novelties may be plastic, their jokes corny, and the hats might fall off every time you reach for the Brussels sprouts, but at least I don't have to worry about my silver plated jam spoon ending up down the garbage disposal. Wishing you a cracker of a New Year! Who Made The First Christmas Cracker? Who Made The First Christmas Cracker? Updated on September 7, 2016 Tom Smith | Source Inventor of the Christmas Cracker Christmas crackers are now a huge part of our Christmas dinner traditions. Today you will find a wide variety of crackers from traditional to novelty. You can buy double snap crackers and now even extra large crackers, which are particularly popular with kids. The cracker wasn't always a Christmas tradition though.

In fact it started of as a novelty Bon-Bon sweet, designed by Tom Smith in 1847 and sold from his confectionary shop in Goswell Road, East London. Tom Smith's confectionary business was already well known for his wedding cake toppers, decorations and cakes. Tom was very creative with his new designs and would often travel to different countries in his quest for new ideas and inspiration. During the 1840s while on a trip to a trade exhibition in Paris, Tom was first introduced to the Bon-Bon. He liked the novel idea of the sugared almond wrapped in pretty tissue paper and twisted at both ends. Later, Tom brought the idea back to London with him and began selling them from his confectionary shop. The Bon-Bon's proved very popular during the Christmas season that year, however once Christmas was over and the initial novelty wore off, his sales soon started to drop. Tom knew he was on to something with his Bon-Bon sweets and realising that it was mostly men buying the sweets for their partners, Tom decided to place a small love motto, also known as 'kiss mottoes' in the tissue paper of the sweets.

This proved very popular and Tom was soon investing more time and money in to new and novel ways of marketing them. * While most sources state that Tom Smith's 'love motto' idea was inspired by the Chinese fortune cookie, records indicate that the fortune cookie was not invented until 1918. Meaning Tom's idea was around 71 years before that time. By 1850, the sweet was removed and replaced with a surprise gift such as a small trinket or toy. Due to the high demand of Tom Smith's latest idea, he soon expanded and moved his business to bigger premises in the City of London during 1853. Tom's biggest inspiration came one evening when he was throwing logs on his fireplace. Upon hearing the crackling sound the logs were making on the fire, he came up with the exciting idea of incorporating some kind of mechanism into his Bon-Bon sweets so that they would make a sound when opened. Tom soon began experimenting with different compounds in his quest to find something that would make a small banging sound when the bon-Bon's were opened. Tom finally found that fulminating silver made a popping noise caused by friction when the bon-bon was pulled apart.

The two narrow strips of fulminating silver paper later became known as 'the Snap.' By 1860, what we now know as the cracker was born. Tom called them his 'bangs of expectation.' Tom Smith Cracker Advert | Source Original box of crackers | Source Do you use Christmas Crackers? Yes No, but I will this year Never heard of them See results without voting The Christmas Cracker Was Born Due to the size of the snap, the bright coloured paper wrapper needed to be made bigger to contain it, although the iconic shape remained the same. The name was later changed to 'Cosaques.' * The name Cosaques is said to come from the sound the cracking whips made by the Russian Cossak horseman. The snap made the cosaques an instant hit and Tom soon found himself swamped with new orders. Seeing how popular they had become in England, Tom decided to take his new invention abroad and expand his growing market. However a eastern manufacturer who clearly saw the potential in the cosaques, copied Toms idea and delivered a big shipment to the UK just before the Christmas season.

This only seemed to motivate Tom Smith and he quickly designed a number of different style cosaques and also distributed them throughout the country in time for that Christmas. From there, Tom's business went from strength to strength and after rival cosaques hit the market, they soon became commonly known as 'Crackers.' The Victorians soon nicknamed Tom Smith the 'Cracker King.' Tom Smith sadly died in 1869, aged 46. He left behind a Christmas tradition that will be treasured by millions across the world. The Story of the Christmas Cracker (@Tom Smith) Advert | Source How the Christmas Cracker Evolved Following Tom Smith's passing, the business was taken over by his three Sons, Tom, Walter and Henry. Just like his Father before him, Walter took a keen interest in the cracker business and was soon travelling the world for new ideas. Walter came up with many new and novel ways to make their crackers stand out from the many copycats that had since surfaced. He often brought back new trinkets from his travels such as bracelets for the ladies and tie pins for the men. He also changed the love motto's to cartoons or quizzes and eventually the bad jokes which are commonly found in crackers today.

Probably one of the most significant changes that Walter made, was the crown shaped hats made from colourful tissue paper. Some believe the hats signified the three wise men. By 1900, Tom Smiths were selling 13 million crackers per year. By now, they had a wide variety of designs such as floral decorations, matching crackers and boxes and beautifully decorated crackers made out of crepe paper. Crackers were no longer just for Christmas, they were designing them for other occasions such as the 1900 Paris Exhibition and The Coronation. They knew that they had truly made it when they began making crackers for the Royal family. In 1906, Tom Smiths were granted their first Royal Warrant by the then Prince of Wales. This continued and Tom Smiths still make exclusive crackers each Christmas for the Royal family although the design of these crackers are always top secret. As the demand for crackers continued, Tom Smiths merged with 'Caley Crackers ' and took over their headquarters and factory in 1953. Today the Tom Smith brand is owned by International Greetings in South Wales. They now also produce wrapping paper, gift bags and cards.

But their biggest seller will always be the iconic and much loved Christmas Cracker, with over 300 million being purchased every year in the UK. "Tom Smith - The Home of Christmas" Below you will find a beautiful love motto found in a Tom Smith Cracker during an interview with the Strand Magazine back in 1891. "The sweet crimson rose with its beautiful hue Is not half as deep as my passion for you. Twill, wither and fade and no more will be seen But whilst my heart lives, you will still be its queen. — A Tom Smith Cracker Love Motto The Confectioners Benevolent Fund, 1891 | Source 10 Interesting Christmas Cracker Facts 1. In 1890, 3ft long crackers were made containing a full sized coat, hat, collar, frill, whiskers, umbrella and eye glass. 2. In 1891, Tom Smith and Co made a Cracker to help raise funds for the Confectioners Benevolent Fund. The cracker was over 12ft long and contained 250 toys, party hats and mottos. 3.

The longest Christmas cracker pulling chain in the UK was made up of 749 people at Brindleyplace in Birmingham on the 11th December 2013. 4. in 1927, a man wrote a letter to Tom Smiths company requesting for an engagement ring be placed into a special cracker for his Fiancée. The man enclosed a diamond engagement ring and a 10 shilling note, however he forgot to enclose his address and never contacted the company again. The letter along with the ring and note remain in the safe to this day. 5. During the second world war, The Ministry of Defence used Tom Smiths snaps for Soldiers in training as when a bundle of them was pulled together the sound mimicked the sound of gun fire. 6. Special Millionaire Crackers were made for the rich which contained a solid silver box with a piece of silver and gold jewellery inside. 7. The worlds biggest Christmas cracker pull was done by 1,478 people at a Honda event in Japan during 2009. 8.

The worlds longest cracker was made by the parents of students at Ley Hill School in Buckinghamshire on the 20th December 2001. The cracker was 207ft long. Wow! 9. Crackers could make you smile in more ways than one back in the 1800s. Tom Smiths produced Crackers for single men and women containing weird gifts such as a set of false teeth. 10. In Victorian times, twelfth night was officially banned because of the Victorians excessive use of crackers. Tom Smith Crackers Since 1847. The original Christmas Cracker. Wrapping Paper, Christmas Crackers, Gifts Bags, Christmas Cards More by this Author Have you ever wondered where the first Christmas card came from? Many Christmas traditions originate from the Victorian era. Henry Cole was too busy to sit and write 5 BBC - Victorian Christmas - History of Christmas Victorian Christmas - History of Christmas History of Christmas Christmas as we celebrate it today has its origins in Victorian Britain. It's hard to imagine now, but at the beginning of the 19th century Christmas was hardly celebrated. Many businesses did not even consider it a holiday.

However by the end of the century it had become the biggest annual celebration and took on the form that we recognise today. The transformation happened quickly, and came from all sectors of society. Victoria and Albert gathered around the Christmas tree with their children. Many attribute the change to Queen Victoria, and it was her marriage to the German-born Prince Albert that introduced some of the most prominent aspects of Christmas. In 1848 the Illustrated London News published a drawing of the royal family celebrating around a decorated Christmas tree, a tradition that was reminiscent of Prince Albert's childhood in Germany. Soon every home in Britain had a tree bedecked with candles, sweets, fruit, homemade decorations and small gifts. In 1843 Henry Cole commissioned an artist to design a card for Christmas. The illustration showed a group of people around a dinner table and a Christmas message. At one shilling each, these were pricey for ordinary Victorians and so were not immediately accessible. However the sentiment caught on and many children - Queen Victoria's included – were encouraged to make their own Christmas cards. In this age of industrialisation colour printing technology quickly became more advanced, causing the price of card production to drop significantly.

Together with the introduction of the halfpenny postage rate, the Christmas card industry took off. By the 1880s the sending of cards had become hugely popular, creating a lucrative industry that produced 11.5 million cards in 1880 alone. The commercialisation of Christmas was well on its way. Traditional Victorian crackers Another commercial Christmas industry was borne by Victorians in 1848 when a British confectioner, Tom Smith, invented a bold new way to sell sweets. Inspired by a trip to Paris where he saw bon bons – sugared almonds wrapped in twists of paper – he came up with the idea of the Christmas cracker: a simple package filled with sweets that snapped when pulled apart. The sweets were replaced by small gifts and paper hats in the late Victorian period, and remain in this form as an essential part of a modern Christmas. Decorating the home at Christmas also became a more elaborate affair. The medieval tradition of using evergreens continued, however the style and placement of these decorations became more important. The old custom of simply decking walls and windows with sprigs and twigs was sniffed at. Uniformity, order and elegance were encouraged.

There were instructions on how to make elaborate synthetic decorations for those residing in towns. In 1881 Cassell's Family Magazine gave strict directions to the lady of the house: "To bring about a general feeling of enjoyment, much depends on the surroundings… It is worth while to bestow some little trouble on the decoration of the rooms". Gift giving had traditionally been at New Year but moved as Christmas became more important to the Victorians. Initially gifts were rather modest – fruit, nuts, sweets and small handmade trinkets. These were usually hung on the Christmas tree. However, as gift giving became more central to the festival, and the gifts became bigger and shop-bought, they moved under the tree. Christmas feast The Christmas feast has its roots from before the Middle Ages, but it's during the Victorian period that the dinner we now associate with Christmas began to take shape. Examination of early Victorian recipes shows that mince pies were initially made from meat, a tradition dating back to Tudor times. However, during the 19th century there was a revolution in the composition of this festive dish. Mixes without meat began to gain popularity within some of the higher echelons of society and became the mince pies we know today.

The roast turkey also has its beginnings in Victorian Britain. Previously other forms of roasted meat such as beef and goose were the centrepiece of the Christmas dinner. The turkey was added to this by the more wealthy sections of the community in the 19th century, but its perfect size for a middle class family gathering meant it became the dominant dish by the beginning of the 20th century. While carols were not new to the Victorians, it was a tradition that they actively revived and popularised. The Victorians considered carols to be a delightful form of musical entertainment, and a pleasure well worth cultivating. Old words were put to new tunes and the first significant collection of carols was published in 1833 for all to enjoy. The Victorians also transformed the idea of Christmas so that it became centred around the family. The preparation and eating of the feast, decorations and gift giving, entertainments and parlour games - all were essential to the celebration of the festival and were to be shared by the whole family. While Charles Dickens did not invent the Victorian Christmas, his book A Christmas Carol is credited with helping to popularise and spread the traditions of the festival.

Its themes of family, charity, goodwill, peace and happiness encapsulate the spirit of the Victorian Christmas, and are very much a part of the Christmas we celebrate today. History of Christmas crackers - The Field The Field 0shares 0shares Charlotte Mackaness doffs her paper hat to a cracking invention that makes each Christmas go with a bang. The festive table is incomplete without a Christmas cracker. TAGS: Christmas The history of Christmas crackers is surrounded by a surprising amount of controversy. For starters, they are the epitome of the throwaway Christmas culture: their very reason for being is to be destroyed. All that waste must have been quite a naughty thrill to the thrifty and famously prudent Victorians who invented them. But as we know the Victorians and Edwardians are largely responsible for how most of traditional England still lives, from what to wear when shooting and what to wear out hunting . Since then, the history of Christmas crackers has witnessed crackers banned during various periods and caught up in trade disputes, not to mention numerous battles around the Christmas table over ownership of the ubiquitous mini screwdriver set. One tip to avoid a Christmas meltdown: take advantage of our special Christmas subscription offer and save 38% .

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS CRACKERS While nobody argues that the history of Christmas crackers began in the late 19th century, there’s an on-going debate about their actual inventor. Some credit a chap called James Hovell, while one school of thought believes it was an innovative Italian by the name of Sparagnapane. But most side with the far less exotic-sounding Tom Smith, a confectioner from London. Holly and mistletoe are as much a part of a festive Christmas as Christmas crackers. Give or take a few years, the the history of Christmas crackers began in 1860. It took not one but two Eureka moments to create the cracker as we know it. Supposedly, Tom Smith travelled to Paris in the 1840s where he was taken with bon-bons, sweets wrapped in a colourful twist of paper. Some time later the crackle of a log in the fireplace of the Smith family home gave him the idea for the snap. “Who knows the truth?” says Peter Kimpton, an authority on the history of Chrismas crackers (the world’s only cracker historian) and author of The King Of Crackers.

“Perhaps Tom Smith was simply an excellent marketing man and did a good job in getting the message out that the idea was his.” Regardless of who should claim the credit, there’s no denying it was a cracking invention, and one that has lasted 150 years. Very little has changed in this time. To stay ahead of competitors, who had also started to produce bon-bons, Smith added a motto and, later, small trinkets. “Tom Smith was brilliant at spotting gaps in the market and coming up with new ideas. For example, there were special crackers for spinsters and bachelors,” explains Kimpton. ARTIST MUNNINGS MADE CHRISTMAS CRACKERS “In Victorian days, people had the luxury of time to produce beautifully printed crackers and boxes. The mottos inside would have been poetic and romantic. Because there was nothing like radio or television for entertainment, much more would have been made of the crackers during the Christmas meal. A family would probably spend a long time poring over the crackers and comparing their contents,” he adds. Decoration for cracker boxes was a serious business. Even the great Munnings started his working life producing designs for Caley’s, another important maker.

“Proofs still exist of Munnings’s work with comments from him such as ‘Not my colours’ or ‘Not my layout,'” reveals Kimpton. “The crackers and boxes were beautifully decorated along various themes. Not only are they fantastic works of art, they’re also a chronicle of social history.” The Royal Family, suffragettes, the Scout movement and the Thirties’ obsession with a Channel tunnel are just a few of the hot topics that found themselves on crackers. The festive bangers also helped with the war effort. Patriotic and militaristic decoration such as an English Tommy with a German eagle on a lead poured scorn on the enemy and boosted morale. During the Second World War the government even used cracker snaps to imitate gunfire for some fairly rudimentary troop training. This meant that cracker production was banned during the war. According to Peter Kimpton, the period from the 1890s up to the end of the First World War was the heyday of the cracker, and then from 1953 one city was at the very centre of this flourishing festive industry: Norwich. “Norwich was the cracker-making capital of the world,” he explains.

“Several major factories, including Tom Smith’s and Caley’s, were based there. I worked for Tom Smith’s between 1986 and 1992 and even then we were making more than 50 million crackers a year.” Although the Tom Smith’s brand still exists, family ownership and the Norwich factory are things of the past. “Very few crackers are made in this country now. Most are produced in China, where they are stamped out and made of wafer-thin cardboard. In the old days, there would have been rows of girls on benches, carefully winding the cracker material around rollers,” says Kimpton. POSH CRACKERS GO WITH A BANG Luckily, the history of Christmas crackers does not end in China. A small band of deft-fingered cracker-makers remains. “One of our very fast girls could probably create a basic cracker in about a minute. Our crackers average about five minutes’ making,” claims Jo O’Connor of Upper Crust Crackers, a business specialising in handmade crackers. “By the time we get to Christmas, most of the makers have fairly gnarled-looking hands. We manufacture all year round but the period from late summer up until Christmas is the busiest.

At this time we take on a whole raft of part-timers to bolster our four full-time staff and 15 or so home workers,” she explains. Last year was particularly pressurised due to the politics of world trade. “The ‘snaps’ are shipped in bulk from China. Our supplies were coming in on an enormous ship filled with Christmas goods that was held up because of rumblings about the number of imports from China. They arrived very late and we had a nail-biting time.” Upper Crust has an enviable list of clients, including Elton John (who went for pink and feathery creations), numerous swanky London hotels, the Orient Express and the Burg Al Arab in Dubai, the world’s only seven-star hotel. “They are ever so thoughtful and always order around Easter, usually around 5,000,” O’Connor says of the exotic establishment. However, having such an international client base does pose some problems. “It’s very difficult choosing jokes because the hotels have a wide variety of nationalities as guests. The gags have to be very politically correct these days and we have to make sure there isn’t anything that might offend a range of cultures,” she explains.

Throughout the year, Upper Crust Crackers amasses a short list of jokes and the staff votes on the best. “We usually end up with a bank of about 50 that we print. As far as jokes go, the cheesier the better. It’s all part of the fun, and I think it is what is expected. A few years ago we decided to replace the jokes with trivia because we thought it was more upmarket, but people didn’t like it one iota so we put them back pronto,” reveals O’Connor. Thornback & Peel boast some delightfully country inspired Christmas crackers. This year there are three excellent designs. A robin and holly design, stag and spot or partridges and pear prints make up these top quality additions to the festive table. Thornback & Peel Christmas crackers look well on the festive country table. The Thornback & Peel Christmas Crackers, are £55 for six or £10 eachor £9.95 each. And the interior definitely lives up to the elegant exterior. Each Christmas cracker contains a hat, snap, joke and a hand printed festive Thornback & Peel handkerchief. Increasingly, crackers are being brought out for other high days and holidays.

“They are becoming more popular for weddings particularly. We once made crackers for a couple who put G-strings inside as the gift. On a more romantic note, we took an order for a special cracker that contained an engagement ring,” she says. The Upper Crust cracker-makers are no strangers to splendid prizes, as they are responsible for the sumptuous crackers sold by Asprey . The Bond Street emporium’s purple and silver crackers cost £200 a pop. They are available individually but are also sold in boxes of six and 12. Silver pens, compasses, silk scarves, pendants and cuff-links are among the treasures found inside. One way of ensuring there’s something more inspiring than a comedy moustache in your cracker is to make or customise your own, something the Royal Family is said to favour. The disparity of cracker contents is one of the wonders of the festive season but, just like the awful jokes and the paper hats that always tear or fall off, ridiculous and sometimes useless prizes are half the fun and have become a Christmas tradition in their own right.

“The pointless plastic shapes that nobody could possibly want – except for small children who might choke on them – are always a source of amusement and bewilderment. Who designs them and what on earth could anybody want a plastic monkey for?” says Billie Baker from party planner Portfolio Events. “Mind you, I think most of us secretly like the mini sewing kits, padlocks and that sort of thing, they always come in handy. “No matter how badly made they are or how laughable the contents, crackers are at the heart of a good Christmas party,” she continues. “They’re a great ice-breaker: if you’re sat next to someone you don’t know comparing prizes and groaning at the gags is a good way to get the conversation flowing. Crackers are also wonderful levellers as it is absolutely impossible to look good in the silly hats.” The History of Christmas Crackers -- Christmas Customs and Traditions -- whychristmas?com The History of Christmas Crackers #500515807 / gettyimages.com Christmas crackers are a traditional Christmas favorite in the UK . They were first made in about 1845-1850 by a London sweet maker called Tom Smith.

He had seen the French 'bon bon' sweets (almonds wrapped in pretty paper). He came back to London and tried selling sweets like that in England and also included a small motto or riddle in with the sweet. But they didn't sell very well. However, one night, while he was sitting in front of his log fire, he became very interested by the sparks and cracks coming from the fire. Suddenly, he thought what a fun idea it would be, if his sweets and toys could be opened with a crack when their fancy wrappers were pulled in half. Crackers were originally called 'cosaques' and were thought to be named after the 'Cossack' soldiers who had a reputation for riding on their horses and firing guns into the air! When Tom died, his expanding cracker business was taken over by his three sons, Tom, Walter and Henry. Walter introduced the hats into crackers and he also traveled around the world looking for new ideas for gifts to put in the crackers. The company built up a big range of 'themed' crackers. There were ones for bachelors and spinsters (single men and women), where the gifts were things like false teeth and wedding rings!

There were also crackers for Suffragettes (women who campaigned to get women the vote), war heroes and even Charlie Chaplain! Crackers were also made for special occasions like Coronations. The British Royal Family still has special crackers made for them today! Very expensive crackers were made such as the 'Millionaire's Crackers' which contained a solid silver box with a piece of gold and silver jewerly inside it! Cracker manufacturers also made large displays, such as horse drawn carriages and sleighs, for the big shops in London. #112781189 / gettyimages.com The Christmas Crackers that are used today are short cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper. There is normally a Cracker next to each plate on the Christmas dinner table. When the crackers are pulled - with a bang! - a colorful party hat, a toy or gift and a festive joke falls out! The party hats look like crowns and it is thought that they symbolise the crowns that might have been worn by the Wise Men. Crackers are famous for their very bad jokes! Here are some bad Christmas themed Cracker jokes!

The world's longest Christmas cracker measured 63.1m (207ft) long and 4m (13ft) in diameter and was made by the parents of children at Ley Hill School and Pre-School, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK on 20 December 2001. Now that would be one big bang! The biggest Christmas cracker pull was done by 1,478 people at an event organised by Honda Japan at Tochigi Proving Ground, Tochigi, Japan, on 18 October 2009. Now that would be a lot of bangs!

Question: What Xmas novelty was invented by Tom Smith in the 1840's
Answer: Christmas cracker